Acting student ready for role in national competition

OCEANSIDE  A MiraCosta College student will be onstage soon at one of the most hallowed performing arts venues in the country, pitting her acting talents against some of the best and brightest students from around the nation.

The prospect of the April 17 competition at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., fills Anyelid Meneses with mixed emotions.

“I am excited and a little nervous,” she said.

Meneses, 33, will take part in the prestigious Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, in which 16 students vie for two Irene Ryan acting scholarships of $2,500 each. In February, she won the regional Irene Ryan scholarship in Utah.

Meneses is the second MiraCosta student to reach the Kennedy Center festival’s national competition, which has been dominated by students from four-year colleges and graduate programs. Sarah Kelley won the national award for stage management in 2006.

Nominees in the acting competition work with a partner to present their scenes. Meneses will share the stage at the Kennedy Center with fellow MiraCosta acting student Kyle Lucy, 23, who also accompanied her to the regional competition.

The two will present scenes from Jose Rivera’s “187” and “Wait a Minute, Men!” a play by Palomar College instructor Carlos von Son. Meneses also will do a monologue from Josefina Lopez’s play “Boyle Heights.”

A native of Caracas, Venezuela, Meneses took acting classes in high school and had roles in soap operas as a teen. She came to the United States 11 years ago.

A MiraCosta student since 2005, she has appeared in productions such as “Anna in the Tropics,” “As you Like it” and “Lend Me a Tenor.”

Eric Bishop, chairman of the performing arts department at MiraCosta, has been her acting coach and director.

“What she brings to the stage is passion,” Bishop said. “She has the kind of stage presence people remember for a long time. She’s also very focused and driven.”

To prepare for the national competition, Meneses, a mom who holds two part-time jobs, has been working on her diction with Tracy Williams, a faculty member at MiraCosta.

“My emotions come through my body,” Meneses said. “I play my emotions better than my diction. I know that’s my weakness as an actor. If I cry or have to feel deeply something inside, you can see it in my face and eyes. But you may say, ‘Wow, but what did she say?’ ”

During their time in Washington, D.C., Meneses and Lucy will have the chance to network, explore opportunities and take part in workshops taught by faculty from around the country.

“These are people we have never met before, never seen before, and you are working with the top 32 students in the college circuit,” Lucy said. “It will be awesome because California has a very distinct style of acting. It will be cool to get outside of that and learn from people from around the country.”

Bishop has a good idea of what’s in store for his students. As a college student, he was acting partner to a classmate who won the national Irene Ryan scholarship in 1993.

“It’s coming full circle,” Bishop said. “As a coach, it’s one of the most affirming achievements of my entire career. It’s a high water mark for our department.”

While Lucy plans to transfer to a four-year college and become a theater teacher, Meneses has set her sights on working in films.

“I am going to go on the red carpet one day even if I am 60 years old,” she said with a laugh. “I don’t know when, but I am going there.”